Anthem24

The Thule dealer in Retreat, Cape Town, Orka Paddles, says: Yes we can definitely help, we can order the part for him. Please ask him to get in touch with us either here on email (orkapaddles@gmail.com) or on 021 701 7913

Did you try here: https://www.thule.com/en-za/thule-support/spare-parts I see the top line says no online shopping from South Africa. Where are you based? I am going past my local Thule just now -- I will ask them.

The towbar options for Thule are all here: https://thulestore.co.za/catalog/category/view/s/towbar-bike-racks/id/116/ and Holdfast here: https://holdfast.co.za/towball-mounted You can find the simplest ones for R500 on Facebook marketplace. Just remember that a 2-bike carrier is best for one bike and a 3-bike carrier best for 2 -- otherwise the risk of scratching frames is quite high without major padding / pool noodles etc between them.

You have lots of options with that bike, since it's a hardtail without a shock sitting in the triangle, although bottle cage placement can be an issue if it's a small frame. If your car doesn't have a towbar, that will be where the main expense is. You can pick up used bikeracks -- Holdfast and Thule -- very cheaply. Just avoid the old Holdfast ones with wheels for the clamps.

So which direction did he ride away with your bike? Not easy to get it down Blackburn Ravine at this point, and if he'd walked down the steps that head up to Elephant's Eye from Tokai, he would have been seen by lots of hikers.

What time of day was this please? Would expect Silvermine to be quite busy with hikers on Friday, given that many people made it a long weekend. I had considered that route for a solo walk later yesterday afternoon. I hope SANParks have been informed too, so they can consider stepping up patrols there?

Yes, it's an experience "like no other" as he says a few times per hour! Vastly better than the narrator of this year's Cape Epic Route video though, which I watched last night. Would help to use a mtbiker, since he mentioned Time Trails instead of Trials and mispronounced many other words in the attempt to read the overly evocative script. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1vbPEJsPHY

At least Cape Epic is streamed live on YouTube,

paint stripper should do the trick

I bought snowbees off Takealot, but the window is 1.50. Not sure if they come in a +2 https://www.takealot.com/snowbee-polarised-sunglasses-matt-black-frame-smoke-lense-1-50-s/PLID72297910 I wore them twice but my astigmatism had got so bad that I couldn't see clearly through the unmagnified part -- I ride in +1.5 shaded readers from Dischem now for distance and carry my prescription glasses in my camelback. So if anyone in CT southern suburbs wants to try these, I'd be happy to flog them for R200.

Off-topic, but I've been wondering what the ripple effect might be of the large tax bill and legal fees that Silverback, Omnico and Cytek have had after losing their appeal to SARS in the Supreme Court in October. Media summary here: https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/images/SCA-128MS.pdf and full judgement here: https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/component/jdownloads/send/48-judgment-2023/4093-silverback-technologies-cc-others-v-commissioner-south-african-revenue-service-301-2022-2023-zasca-128-09-october-2023?Itemid=0

Has anyone got a Thule bike rack adapter they'd be willing to sell me? To use on a hanging rack. The bar diameter seems quite narrow -- will the Holdfast rubber straps (or wheels) actually close down enough to hold the bike securely?

Yes, I haven't done C'Nek to Newlands for almost a year, and can imagine the September flood took its toll on the rocky climb up to the K'bosch boundary !

From a safety perspective, muggings on the greenbelt have been few and far between. At weekends, Constantia Nek to Newlands is quite busy with walkers and cyclists. There's no telling if muggers will shift to this area now that Table Mountain and Signal Hill are being patrolled. I wouldn't ride on the road from Rhodes Drive-M3 intersection to the 'stone cottages', but the route drops down into Fernwood for that reason. After the stone cottages the road is wider and there's verge to ride on, but the official route stays in the suburb.

https://www.tablemountainbikers.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Table-Mountain-MTB-Club-Maps-PRINT.pdf There's only one legal mtb trail from C Nek to Newlands Forest over the top, then come back past Kirstenbosch top gate, can do the trail in lower Kirstenbosch, along Corks or the singletrack below Rhodes Drive, then down Diep River trail and greenbelt. Would be better to go with somebody else first time, and you should have an activity card to ride the C'nek to Newlands route.

Stumbled upon this (apparently new release) on the Department of Forestry, Fisheries & Environment website -- seems an odd topic for them to be involved in, but evidently they had German government funding for it. Compiled by a KZN environmental consultancy. Posting here in case it's of interest: https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/cyclingacademies_bestpracticesguideline.pdf

Depends on the time of day. I regularly ride down the hill, but no longer come back up that way, partly because I wouldn't be able to ride away fast enough but mostly because the muggers generally hang out on the American Embassy side of the road so they can escape back into Westlake across the bridge over the wetland. And I think there is a camera on the fence now, monitoring the comings and goings there. I've seen taxis parked at the old flower farm next to the furthest Tokai Forest entrance, so if there's ever another attack from a taxi along Spaanschemat Rd, it would be worth asking SAPS to check there.

Haha -- I wonder if that's a ChatGPT f-up or just somebody at PedalPower getting their wires crossed! https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19630808-0

I had been wondering why nobody had commented on his many successes in the States over the last two months, but perhaps I missed it. As in @sohobikefesr - 4th in XCC and 2nd in XCO, 1st at @truckeetahooegravel, 3rd at @tushacrusher.

I had been wondering why nobody had commented on his many successes in the States over the last two months, but perhaps I missed it.

Well with the Rand so weak against the Dollar and Euro, the Cape Point entry fee probably doesn't hurt foreign visitors. And we get charged a higher SADC fee in parks in other countries too, I think? The once-off entry fee for locals is steep, but at least we have the Green Card to give us (and guests) 12 free entries to paying parks per year. Snapscan and Zapper would be great at Trailheads, but hugely tricky with government procurement systems, I imagine. Perhaps they are finally heading that way, since they've gone 'cashless'. Anyway, you're focusing on the tourism stuff, but that's not SanParks' primary mandate: "Conservation – the primary mandate of the organisation is the conservation of South Africa’s biodiversity, landscapes and associated heritage assets through a system of national parks." "Responsible Tourism – the organisation has a significant role in the promotion of South Africa’s nature-based tourism, or ecotourism business targeted at both international and domestic tourism markets. The eco-tourism pillar of the business architecture provides for the organisation’s self-generated revenues from commercial operations that are necessary to supplement government funding of conservation management." "Socio-Economic Development – SANParks has taken a strategic decision to expand its role in the developmental support provided to neighbouring communities as an entity of the developmental state".

TMNP is hardly a cash cow! Of course the busy places like Cape Point (and Kruger) have to cross-subsidise national parks that have great conservation value but can't possibly pay for themselves. I think most people have no objection to paying -- we buy day permits when we ride in Tygerberg or the winelands -- but we don't ask any northern suburbs people to join us on rides at Deer Park etc because there's no way they can buy a day permit. TMNP really could make it easier and help everyone stay 'legal' and rake in more money, even if they're not going to put it back into trail maintenance.

Used to do this often 20 years ago, always starting from top of Red Hill. There were some attacks on large groups of hikers a few years back. There are parts that get very sandy in summer, so after the rainy season is best. Some parts will be too wet now -- there was always one marshy area to cross.

And if you happen to lose your activity card and somebody hands it in at the Tokai boom, they will stick it in the window of the booth, but they won't call or e-mail to let you know it's there, despite making you fill in all those details on the application form. There is no communication between the booth and the office that issues the card a km up the road. I was given all sorts of excuses about them being in different sections when I pointed this out a month or two ago, and suggested they up their service delivery game.